WEEP.
Weep.
Nu Sass is proud to participate in the 2020/2021 Jubilee Festival. Our first play of the festival is "Weep", a modern re-telling of the hispanic folktale "La Llorona" or "The Weeping Woman."
Andy Walker, a public defense attorney, is assigned a high-profile case in which she must defend Marina Renaldo (dubbed “La Llorona” by the press), a woman accused of drowning her two children. The two women begin to form an unlikely friendship in their meetings with each other, while Andy’s marriage slowly crumbles at home.
Written by DC Playwright Amanda Zeitler
Directed by Bess Kaye
Starring Pauline Lamb, Boneza Hanchock, Carolyn Kashner & Drew Cannady
Wall art by Ezra Tozian
Caos on F
923 F St NW
Washington, DC
REVIEWS
MD THEATRE GUIDE - MARY ANN JOHNSON
Zeitler... isn’t giving us just a ripped from the headlines thriller. In a taut 75 minutes, she touches on racism, abortion, immigration, misogyny... This show is a conversation-starter, and that’s a wonderful thing to take away from a play.
DC THEATRE SCENE - JOHN BAVOSO
Kaye has assembled a talented foursome of actors to bring this script to life and does a deft job of utilizing the intimate Caos on F space. With the audience sitting on either side of Aubri’s O’Connor’s versatile set and in close proximity to the actors, we are thrust into the goings-on in the same way rubber-neckers are constantly inserting themselves into a particularly salacious trial… I can’t wait to see what Zeitler—and Nu Sass—have in store next for DC audiences.
DC METRO THEATRE ARTS - DAVID SIEGEL
Nu Sass’s world premiere of Weep is an arresting, unflinching peek into complicated lives with emotionally charged scenes and character collisions. It is a slowly building psychological thriller… Weep is riveting as its four-person cast plumb the depths of human torment.
ARTISTS OF WEEP
PLAYWRIGHT
AMANDA ZEITLER (she/her)
Amanda Zeitler is local DC playwright and she is so excited to see Weep. come to life onstage with this amazing company and cast. Past productions include Neverlanding and La Llorona (Capital Fringe Festival 2019 and 2014 respectively); The Pencil is Mightier, Unlabeled, and Collide-O-Scope (Imagination Stage); Bite Me (Arcadia University); The Mage Knights of Eternal Light (Catholic University of America). She is the winner of the Wichita State University Playwriting Award (2014) and was a runner up for the Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences Award (2015). She was also a finalist at the 2019 Detroit New Works Festival where Weep. received a reading this summer. Thank you to Bess for her passion and efforts to bring this play to life. Thank you to Seth for being a loving, supportive fiance who is nothing like Jude.
DIRECTOR
BESS KAYE (she/her)
Bess Kaye is a Nu Sass company member and local actor, combat choreographer, and director. This is her 5th project with Nu Sass having appeared in 43 1/2 , the Greatest Deaths of Shakespeare’s Tragedies, Stone Tape Party, and The Paper Game, and directed All His Sins Remembered for the Kennedy Center Page to Stage Festival in summer 2019. She has performed for 1st Stage, NextStop, Faction of Fools, and Prince Goerge’s County’s Shakespeare in the Parks and has done fight direction for Monumental Theater Company and the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. Bess holds an MFA in Classical Acting from the Shakespeare Theatre at the George Washington University has stayed on as the assistant Stage Combat Instructor for three years running. She teaches stage combat workshops for CSC and for Flying V’s Combat Gym. She is grateful for this stellar cast, her supportive family, and her adorable puppy.
ACTORS
CAROLYN KASHNER (Andy)
(she/her)
Carolyn is thrilled to be making her Nu Sass debut in Weep. Recent DC/Baltimore credits include: Baltimore Center Stage: Pride and Prejudice. Signature Theatre: Kid Victory (u/s). Olney Theatre Center: Witness for the Prosecution. The Hub Theatre: American Spies and Other Homegrown Fables, The Late Wedding, Leto Legend, Failure: A Love Story (2015 Helen Hayes nomination - Best Supporting Actress in a Play). Prologue Theatre: Grand Concourse. The Keegan Theatre: What We're Up Against, National Pastime, Rent, Man of La Mancha. Theatre Alliance: The Wonderful World of Dissocia. 1st Stage: Harvey, The Last 5 Years. Spooky Action Theatre: The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs, Happy Hour. NextStop Theatre Company: 45 Plays for 45 Presidents, Richard III, Crimes of the Heart. Carolyn is a company member at the Hub Theatre and an Equity Membership Candidate. Carolynkashner.com.
BONEZA VALDEZ HANCHOCK (Marina)
(she/her)
Boneza is thrilled to be making her Nu Sass debut in Weep. Bo is a 1st Generation Dominican-American originally from The Bronx, NY and has been performing throughout the DC Metro area for several years. Theatre credits include: Prince George’s Shakespeare in the Parks: Much Ado About Nothing; Fractal Theatre Collective: Shakespeare is a White Supremacist; Ecclectic Mayhem Production: Tiresus’ Tits; The Rude Mechanicals: Henry V, Antigone Reflected, Tis Pity She’s a Whore; Off the Quill: Timon 2016; Castaways Repertory Theatre: A Raisin in the Sun, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth. She is also a cast member in the I Am Project, an original scripted podcast highlighting the mental health issues of people of color. The support of her hub-beast Daryl and pup make all of these theatre fever dreams possible. Training: Studio Theatre Conservatory.
PAULINE LAMB (Simone)
(she/her)
Pauline makes her Nu Sass debut as Simone Young in Amanda Zeitler's Weep. This is only her second time hitting the stage since coming to the DMV area after playing Silvia Henson in John Bavoso's Blight with Pinky Swear Productions.
Pauline is a local choreographer and designer for children and adults alike. Previous credits include Assassins (Pallas Theatre Collective - Choreo/Props), Use All Available Doors (Pinky Swear - Choreo), Bullets Over Broadway and Mamma Mia (Annapolis Summer Garden Theatre - Choreo), Sweeney Todd and Beauty and the Beast (The Arlington Players - Choreo/Props), Alice in Wonderland (Chesapeake Shakespeare Company - Props), Energie (DC Dogs - Choreo) and Aristocats Kids (Adventure - Choreo) among others!
She serves at the Pre-Conservatory dance instructor for Adventure Theatre Academy, and is contracted throughout the DMV to choreograph and teach dance at various schools! Love and hugs to all the new friends she's making throughout this process, and a special thanks to the worst ASM ever, Rhodey! (Our fearless leader, Bess Kaye's perfect pup 😊)
DREW CANNADY (Jude)
(he/him)
While attending the College of William and Mary, Drew appeared as Flan Kittredge in Six Degrees of Separation, Kip in Life Under Water, Grigory Smirnov in The Bear, and Guildenstern in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Because he is very, very lazy, Drew decided not to pursue acting after college, and instead attended the University of Virginia School of Law. He currently practices as an attorney with the United States Secret Service., where, unlike many lawyers, he enjoys his job. Drew missed acting, however, so after a 20-year hiatus, he returned to the theater as Robert Lowell in Dear Elizabeth, and as the Sheriff in Undying Love, while living in Key West, Florida in 2017-2018. In 2019, he appeared as Sheriff Will Masters in Aldersgate Church Community Theater’s production of Bus Stop. He is thrilled to be a part of the Nu Sass family and to be appearing in Weep.
PRODUCTION
AUBRI O’CONNOR (Producer, Set, Costumes, Props)
(she/her)
Aubri O’Connor is cofounder, producer, and artistic director of Nu Sass Productions. Aubri is awed by the work these artists, and is grateful to have the chance to premier this powerful play.
Aubri is an alum of Oberlin College, and is indebted to the theatre program and OMTA for teaching her everything she knows. She thanks her father and Mikibear for their unending support. Aubri’s select Nu Sass acting credits include: Gwen & Ida: The Object is of No Importance; Dead Dog’s Bone; 50 Ways to Date Your Aubrey; Stone Tape Party; No Exit; A Bright Room Called Day; 43 ½: The Greatest Deaths of Shakespeare’s Tragedies; Tent of Dreams: An Occuplay.
CHARLES LASKY (Stage Manager)
(they/them)
Charles Lasky is a Nu Sass company member, and roaming professional stage manager in the DC area. Charles has worked with many companies outside of Nu Sass including The American Century Theatre, Annapolis Shakespeare Company, Theater Alliance, The Kennedy Center, and Ally Theatre Company.
LAUREN GALLUP (Lighting Designer)
(she/her)
Lauren is a third year MFA candidate in lighting design at The University of Maryland. She holds a B.A. in Theatre and Dance from The University of Texas. Recent designs include: The Visit (UMD), Tides (UMD), Citizen (UMD), Akwantuo (UMD), and La Clemenza di Tito (UMD). Escape from Peligro Island (Imagination Stage), Weep and Dead Dog's Bone (NuSass), The Spoken Word (Signature in the Schools), A Brief History of America and Death Comes to Us All, Mary Agnes (Hangar: Wedge Series), For more work and upcoming projects, please visit www.laurengallup.com.
SEOYOUNG KIM (Sound Designer)
(she/her)
Seoyoung Kim is excited to be back for her second show at Nu Sass. She's worked in the DMV area since '17 as a freelance tech and production manager. Seoyoung has reduced her theatre work because she's returned to school to pursue a career in health care, but Weep. has made her miss being in theatre full time very much. She would like to thank everyone who was a part of Weep. for giving her a chance of being a part of creating such an amazing piece of art.